I just clean up the front pipe on my SD. Had to use green scotch brite to cut though the baked on crud, looked ok.Moved on to the lower section... a couple of hours later looked back at the front header and can see what looks like rust spots forming.

Ah, thanks... Not going mad then... Must just be a really low grade of stainless.

I will finish cleaning the pipes I think, coat with oil and hope for the best. Will then take her out for a run and see what happens. If the surface holds up I'll go back and polish the front pipe to restore the surface finish. If not then I'm sure it will soon look like it did previously, after a few rides & especially if it rains...

I think a black ceramic finish might look great, be sure to post up when you've had it done as I'll be keen to see it.

RichUK wrote:Ah, thanks... Not going mad then... Must just be a really low grade of stainless.

I will finish cleaning the pipes I think, coat with oil and hope for the best. Will then take her out for a run and see what happens. If the surface holds up I'll go back and polish the front pipe to restore the surface finish. If not then I'm sure it will soon look like it did previously, after a few rides & especially if it rains...

I think a black ceramic finish might look great, be sure to post up when you've had it done as I'll be keen to see it.

DukeNukem999 wrote:Removed the exhaust headers and had them Ceramic coated in black Looks much better than before

I had the same frustration with the Akra pipes on my sdr and ended up having them coated in black. Definitely worth doing in my opinion as it's not really an expensive job and they look loads better. Mine looked amazing for quite some time but they don't hold up forever, especially at the heads and also they go a bit dull. See the shot (crap photo that i had on file) of the front header piece, it looks horrid now from heat and exposure over 3 or 4 years. In saying that it's still worth it and would not hesitate to have mine redone but by someone else to compare longevity. EDIT : I think the pics are after about 3 yrs.

When I had my original headers I just always gave them a good clean with a rotary wire brush mounted on a drill and brought them back to a bare metal finish and a bit of a polish afterwards. Same with my Akra full-titanium system. Every time I take them off for whatever reason I just do the same - they always return to a great natural, metal finish and then I spray them with ACF50 and they smoke when first started and that's it. Then you get to see them all turn blue/purple all over again. I just clean regularly and cover with WD40 or whatever and they are OK.

I guess it really comes down to how often you take the whole system off. Even after ten years I seem to be taking it all off at least once a year and that means they are always looking OK.

I've done a few rides since cleaning the system and it's not holding up too bad.The rear pipes came up to almost new just by using acid (Harpic Power Plus Max 10). The actual headers are showing signs of surface rusting but I think I could stay on top of that without needing to remove the exhaust. So when I next get the urge I'll clean and then polish the headers back to shine.